I love these little guys. This is a male i've had for the last year. When we move in the next few months, I want to get a larger tank so I can do an actual mangrove setup & get some more. The larger species are best kept alone unless provided with TONS of room due to their aggression. Indians stay smaller, 3-4" & can live in groups on a smaller scale (but still LOTS of room!)

Begging for food:

Can see the jointed fins. Not to get into any arguments, but I keep thing these guys could be some sort of evolutionary link:

These guys are MUCH harder to get to flareup then bettas! The dorsal fin is the best ID for determining species:

I have a small internal filter that usually sits in the corner, I just take it out for pics because it's ugly Creates a waterfall effect. I have the water area heated with a heat mat. His tank water gets replaced weekly, topped off as needed in between, & every few weeks I break everything down, wash the sand, & redo the setup.

I just brought home a ton of foam & have a ton of potting soil. Now I have a spare 10gal so i'm going to work on converting it to a much improved paludarium &/or riparium for him.

From my personal observations over the last year, he really prefers water not much higher then his eyes. He will dive down fully submerged for food, but 9 times of out 10 he's either up on the sand or on his rocks I keep in the deeper section of the water. They don't swim very well & are capable of drowning. On the other hand, they don't really live in stagnant water in the wild. Balancing everything can be fun!

In the future I want to do a 40g breeder or 55gal mangrove riparium for a herd of Indian mudskippers, bumblebee gobies, & land crabs.